The present invention relates to an improved rope assembly and method of making same, and more particularly, relates to double hollow braided rope in which it is desired to provide a loop or a splice.
The art has recognized that a loop rope assembly may be formed from a flexible braided rope by inserting the terminus of one end of the rope down the hollow rope along the longitudinal axis thereof whereby the rope end is retained in the center of the rope against pullout by the rope strands or braids of the hollow rope when a tension force is applied to the rope. One known prior art rope assembly, shown for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,749, works on the principle of a Chinese finger braid wherein the braid tightly grips fingers inserted into the ends of the braid as the fingers are pulled apart. The greater the tension applied to the loop, the stronger the gripping force asserted by the hollow strands on the end of the rope inserted therein, thus minimizing pullout under tension loads. In this structure, the end of the rope within the hollow braided rope may be moved or removed by relaxing the tension force on the hollow rope and urging the strands together, thereby releasing their grip on the rope end.
Hollow braided rope and hollow double braided rope are generally manufactured from a plastic material. Hollow braided rope is made from groups of fibers or strands and are commonly 8 strand, 12 strand and 16 strand. A material such as polypropylene is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,749 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,854,767. Materials such as polypropylene, polyethylene and nylon are inherently slippery due to their low coefficient of friction. This leads to a tendency for the end of the rope to slip relative to the center with the result that the connection becomes detached. This slippage is particularly apparent when the rope is not maintained under a high tension load. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,854,767, a barbed retaining ring is positioned on the rope and is adapted to be inserted into the center of a single hollow braided rope to prevent pullout of the rope, even under low tension.
The aforementioned patents relate to single hollow braided rope whereas the present invention relates to double hollow braided rope and its assembly to form a loop or splice.